Letter to the editor: Thanks for the memories

Against the backdrop of the Blue Angels tragedy last week, I found your article on the P-51 Mustang in today's (June 6) edition both heartening and uplifting.

As an 18-year-old, I underwent basic training in AntiAicraft in the fall of 1944 in Fort Bliss, Texas. Though I was transferred to the Infantry at the onset of the Battle of the Bulge, I completed the 17-week training cycle. Each Saturday morning we attended aircraft recognition classes. We learned to identify many war planes, when viewed from any angle.

Without today's technology, we had to rely on visual sightings as to whether to fire and when to fire. Among the planes we learned to identify were the F4U, the F6F, the P47 Thunderbolt, the double fuselage P38 Lightning and the beautiful P51 Mustang. Foreign aircraft included the Japanese Zero, the German Messerschmidt and the British Spitfire.

Thank you for helping to revive some poignant memories of a long ago era.

Arden Harper

Cason Lane

Murfreesboro

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